Use of live decoys for hunting on Malta
The use of live decoy-birds is widespread and usually permitted in most countries around the Mediterranean. The birds are placed in small cages - rarely in aviaries - at trapping and hunting sites and lure others of their species with their singing to the hunters shotguns or into the nets and traps of the bird trappers.
Live decoys are frequently used in Malta. Quails, turtle doves, waders and various thrushes as well as finches are commonly used. Hunters and bird trappers use nets to catch the coveted birds, although the EU Birds Directive clearly prohibits bird-trapping and breeding of almost all species.
Malta bypasses the EU-wide ban on bird-trapping by means of a derogation, allowing the catching of golden plovers and song thrushes with nets every autumn. The nets are placed parallel to each other on the ground and are kept under tension with large metal springs. In the middle of the sites there is food and water, living decoys are placed in the surroundings. When birds settle in the space between the nets, the bird trapper waiting in a nearby hiding hut triggers them. The nets then spring over the birds and catch them alive.
The problems that the authorised catching of birds brings with it are manifold: On the one hand, many trappers do not comply with the strict requirements that are associated with the derogation. For example, they often use forbidden electronic decoy callers, catch over the permitted maximum limit or trap outside of the permitted time or season. For example, many of the Golden Plover trapping permitted in autumn are used for the illegal trapping of waders in summer. The trappers, who have a permit to catch song thrushes, often use their site to illegally catch finches.
In addition, many other bird trappers lay out their nets in between the dozens of authorised trapping sites - knowing full well that no one in the field can easily understand who has a permit and who does not. Regardless, there are practically no inspections by the authorities, although Malta has made a commitment to Brussels to do so by using the derogations.